FXR Racing Presents the Mid-Week Report With Andy White

Welcome to the Sunshine State of Florida and the Daytona Supercross. This event is not your typical supercross event, with lots of sand, grass and clay. It is built right on natural grass that is part of the infield of the Daytona International Speedway oval. Ricky Carmichael’s name is used to promote this race and he is the official track designer for this round. I believe American Honda has been sponsoring the event for the past 25 years. That’s a long time title sponsor. The opening ceremonies had RC riding his Suzuki RMZ450 around the track pointing to areas while talking to the crowd. The crowd was packed and the weather was perfect for a race under the stars. Just about all the top factory riders were there except for Barcia, Short and Wil Hahn. Making the long trip from California was Josh Grant on his privateer Suzuki. I wasn’t sure if this was the best event for Grant to showcase his speed, but hey, why not. With his impressive 7th place finish, there are rumors this week that Grant will now fill in for Will Hahn on the Monster Energy Kawasaki Team.

I know I keep saying this about the series, but the Lites race was one of the best, yet again. Yes, the track was super tight and one lined. It kind of sucked for the riders and also the paying customer, but it made for some great racing. You have to remember that the promoters want to entertain the paying people. The riders usually come second on this list. Malcolm Stewart looked like he had this one in the bag until he started getting a little tired out there. I think anyone would get tired with Jeremy Martin breathing down your neck. Then you had Josh Hill on his Factory KTM TLD on his way up to the leaders. There was Martin Davalos on his Factory Husky with those red leader plates only a few bike lengths behind the leaders too. It was a full-on log jam. There was no way those riders could pass Malcolm until he finally made a small mistake on lap 12. Jeremy Martin made the pass and checked out. Then it was Hill that put the pressure on Stewart for the pass. That put Stewart in third with one lap to go. You know Martin Davalos was going to try everything he had in his bag of tricks to get by the fading Geico rider. Well, with two corners to go Martin pinned it and tried but couldn’t make the pass until Malcolm stalled his Honda with one corner to go. That left the door wide open for the pass. I would not want to be under the Geico semi after that race. I was really impressed with Jesse Wentland’s ride on the rough track. Jesse looked great all day and was able to finish 8th for the night. Another rider, a native of Florida that raced in the CMRC nationals, was Josh Cartwright. He had a solid night of racing to finish 18th for the night.

The big guys were up next and the crowd favourite was either Dungey or Tomac. Both riders looks really good in the heat races, with Tomac having the fastest lap of the day. The gate dropped and Tomac led the best supercross riders in the world to the first turn. I am sure Ryan Dungey was thinking, “This is not good.” Tomac put the hammer down and was on a super-fast pace. Dungey and Marvin were the only riders that kept the pace. They stayed that way until almost the end of the race. Ryan was able to get close but never close enough to make a pass. Marvin fell off the pace a little and cruised to a solid third overall for the night. Jason Anderson had a good race and was able to finish fourth on his Factory Husky. Ken Roczen looked good all day, but just couldn’t find the start or the speed to hang with the leaders. One rider that proved he should be on a factory team was Josh Grant. He had a solid heat race and then a great ride in the final to finish 8th for the night. Two riders that didn’t have a good night were James Stewart and Millsaps. James looped out in the whoops in the heat race and never returned for the LCQ. Davi had a rough night crashing out in the final and ended up with a few broken ribs and a partially collapsed lung.

How about one of our very own top Canadian riders, Tyler Medaglia, competing at the first round of the GNCC in Florida. Husky Canada set him up on a 350 for this event in the sand. I feel this was a really smart move on everyone’s part. The 450 he used last year is a big bike to throw around for three hours. Right off the start Tyler was battling for a podium spot with the best GNCC riders and continued to pressure the leaders until his chain derailed with only a few laps to go. This pushed Tyler back to 7th for the day. Very respectable ride but I’m sure he was disappointed. Tyler and his Parts Canada Husky will be back at it this weekend at Round 2 of the GNCC series in Georgia. Good luck.

I don’t usually talk about the MXGP series in the midweek report, but I was surprised to hear Ben Townley had the balls to tell the FIM that the Qatar and Thailand tracks sucked. I will not go into great detail but Ben basically he told the press what every other rider was thinking. I agree with him; if you watched the first two GPs you probably thought you were watching some local race. The track was not a standard GP level track. I am sure we have not heard the end of this story. The FIM was very mad at Ben for venting to the media about how a GP track can be so bad. Yikes!